Post by @ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social

2026-04-21 16:53 UTC

Have you noticed this thing where when a type of character appears in story enough, they become dissociated from the actual nature of the original character type? E.g. being a cartoon cowboy does not imply that one is a young man who runs cattle. It&#39;s about a set of clothes and a gruff attitude. A pirate strictly speaking no longer needs to be engaged in any kind of violent robbery. A princess is someone young with a crown, but may not really need a monarchy they are in line for.

Replies (16)

@ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social 2026-04-21 16:54

I once told my daughter ninjas are a type of assassin and she thought I was teasing her.

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@b_age@troet.cafe 2026-04-21 16:57

@ZachWeinersmith reduced to cliché

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@apLundell@timeloop.cafe 2026-04-21 16:58

@ZachWeinersmith Cartoon characters are basically vaudevillians in costumes.

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@petes_bread_eqn_xls@mastodo.neoliber.al 2026-04-21 17:00

@ZachWeinersmith I guess that’s “stage 2” of those Baudrillard simulacrum memes

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@petealexharris@mastodon.scot 2026-04-21 17:09

@ZachWeinersmith They all appear in too many stories for their ecosystem to support them doing their nominal job. Like how movies with dinosaurs have way too many tyrannosaurs and not enough medium-sized guys who eat ferns.

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@2easteroid@mas.to 2026-04-21 17:18

@ZachWeinersmith Apparently it helps if they have trochaic names

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@WesternInfidels@mefi.social 2026-04-21 17:21

@ZachWeinersmith I've noticed only some of the Jacks in fiction have a beanstalk gig lined up.

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@K4_713@nonsense.direct 2026-04-21 17:26

@ZachWeinersmith I think the one that bugs me the most can be described as kids at some kind of (possibly fantastical) boarding school who apparently never have classes or assignments or tests or anything.

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@glyph@mastodon.social 2026-04-21 17:28

@ZachWeinersmith I think this phenomenon typically comes along with a recognizable costume and aesthetic

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@ClumsyGolem@mstdn.games 2026-04-21 17:31

@ZachWeinersmith Remember kids, a good pirate never steals!

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@grendel84@tiny.tilde.website 2026-04-21 17:35

@ZachWeinersmith re:pirates kids playing pirates today would be like kids of the future playing terrorists. I can already see the title - "Timmy the terrorist and his gang of rascals"

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@hzulla@infosec.exchange 2026-04-21 17:40

@ZachWeinersmith Multiple classic horror monster archetypes and jump scares have been repurposed for childrens' books and TV. child story characters. Can't count the number of friendly vampires, wolves or T-Rexes who happen to be vegetarians in media aimed at kids. The classic zombie walk and other horror tropes are recurring visual gags in childrens' TV such as Shaun the Sheep and others. There's Hotel Transylvania and Monster High, aimed at primary school age viewers, where all the horror monsters are nice people.

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@LucasWerkmeister@wikis.world 2026-04-21 17:59

@ZachWeinersmith Yes! the contrast between the actual piracy shown in Pirates of the Caribbean (once, near the beginning of the first film, when the Black Pearl crew are still the bad guys) and all the “it’s about freedom” rhetoric afterwards is really bizarre when you think about it.

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@nickwedig@dice.camp 2026-04-21 18:40

@ZachWeinersmith Freemasons rarely build anything from stone.

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@anneoneam@mastodon.online 2026-04-22 13:32

@ZachWeinersmith Famous "Jake and the Never Land Pirates" image:

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@argonaut@mastodon.social 2026-04-28 14:56

@ZachWeinersmith i blame halloween—or Plato’s cave.

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